United Airlines Expanding Flight Training Center in Denver

(02 June 2022, 15:44 +07)  United Airlines has unveiled plans to expand its Flight Training Center, already the largest facility of its kind in the world, as the airline seeks to hire an additional 10,000 pilots by 2030.

The airline will add a new four-storey building on the 23-acre campus in Denver’s Central Park neighborhood that will house 12 additional advanced flight simulators, training classrooms, conference rooms and offices.

The expansion is expected to be completed before the end of 2023.

United Airlines is expanding its Flight Training Center in Denver

“The expansion of this world-class facility gives United even more resources to recruit and train the next generation of aviators,” said Marc Champion, Managing Director of the Flight Training Center. “Our pilots are the best in the industry and flying remains one of the best, union careers in the world – great pay and benefits and the chance to captain the biggest planes to the most places around the world.”

United’s campus – seven buildings, across 550,000 square feet of training space – is the sole training facility for the airline’s 12,000 active pilots and all newly hired pilots.

Every nine months pilots must visit the training center to remain up-to-date on certifications, and at any one time there may be up to 600 pilots training at the facility.

United’s Flight Training Center campus currently has 39 full-motion flight simulators and 15 fixed training devices, the additional building means United will soon have the capability to have a total of 52 full-motion simulators and 28 fixed training devices.

United expects to add more than 2,000 new pilots this year alone and is on track to hire 10,000 pilots by 2030. The airline plans to train around 5,000 pilots by that date through United Aviate Academy, the airline’s own pilot training school.

The facility in Denver was originally constructed between 1966-68 as part of the Stapleton Airport complex and has served as United’s main pilot training facility since then. Within the last five years, United has renovated the entire facility and added an additional building as recently as 2020.